Never noticed the flicker thing so I cant comment on that, but these definitely fixed the gif artifacts for me. However my card will not downclock at 165hz anymore. 144hz yes, it downclocks all the way. 165hz it only drops that 1 'tick' down to about 1200mhz (instead of like 200 or whatever). This wasn't a problem with the previous version I had.
 
Regarding G-SYNC + VSYNC: if you are a gamer you should turn VSYNC off and limit your frames a few below your monitors refresh rate. Otherwise you are introducing rather substantial input lag. That is the reason they separated the options in the first place. Read more about it here: http://www.blurbusters.com/gsync/preview2/
 

(chart is labeled poorly but it is showing ms latency, and GSYNC+VSYNC in any situation where your FPS exceeds your refresh rate is a substantial hit)